Discord was now the one staring at the door. Fluttershy was his first and until recently only friend he truly respected. Even dealing with Celestia and Luna there was always a bit of tension and only during the times when he kept himself in check did they finally lower their guard around him. While the Tirek incident did send them back a bit they did understand why it had happened.

“Discord… we want to apologize.” Celestia spoke up.

For his part he was just confused about everything. He had betrayed all ponies to a horrible leech monster. A leech that managed to sweet talk him into believing that he could be friends with him without having to change his way of expression. Slight shame and confusion clouded his eyes uncertain how to actually react. Luna noticed and while her gaze was stern mostly due to not truly liking Discord it was still softer because of what Celestia had said.

“What for? I did this to myself. Believing someone I knew wasn’t trustworthy just because he knew what buttons to push. I don’t know what you two are apologizing for.” Discord muttered out still audible but quiet enough that only the three of them could hear.

Luna was surprised and the look she gave him was obviously shocking. Celestia, though, kept a stern gaze yet it wasn’t focused on Discord. She was staring off into the distance looking for the right words to say.

“Not entirely. The only reason you had those buttons to push was because none of us truly have tried being friends with you aside from Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. I suppose Twilight can finally be added to the mix now but one true friend does not make for real trust. We did say you would be returned to stone should you go all out. I think that was far too harsh now.” Celestia sighed allowing the real her out for a bit. Her eyes showed just how tired she was. While magic did wonders to keep her fatigue from showing every time somepony ever looked her in the eye they would see something that they could not comprehend. They would see experiences that would shatter a normal mind without care.

Luna also released her own worries. Staring off into the distance. PTSD had taken over one thousand years of her life and solitude forced her into horrifying decisions especially when it came to the events dealing with the Nyx. Discord noticed this change and let his own insecurities go. Solitude had broken him so long ago and the events of being in stone developed them into larger problems. Only giant actions could make him feel alive at this point. Immortality, the blessing every being in the universe strived for. Once acquired there was nothing that could be considered good. Solitude was all that waited when the path was followed.

“I’ll admit I did think it was a good idea. I’ll be honest I needed to burn off the energies I had been gathering before I lost my mind… again. The only things I regret is letting myself get to that point.” Discord spoke aloud crossing his arms as seriousness took root over him.

“Only those regrets?” Luna chirped in poking the draconequus in the side. Yet even with the words spoken the smile on her face poked fun at him.

“Of course. It’s good practice and unlike sunbutt over here I actually take the time to look into all possible futures. Doesn’t mean I’m good at it. Even I let ego feed my actions.” Discord admitted though the smirk on his face said otherwise.

“Something we share in common mishmash.” Celestia rolled her eyes but was smiling regardless of her tone.

“Luna was I just seeing things or did Celestia finally join in the game.” Discord mockingly stumbled through his words in feigned surprise.

“Sister are thou well?” Luna also feigned concern as a thermometer appeared in Celestia’s mouth showing the mercury rising to the very brim.

A quick laugh was shared between the three finally with all three on equal standing at this point. At least socially.

“So what about you and the Element of Kindness? Are things well there?” Luna spoke up first. She was the one who reacted the worse from the stories she was told and the grimace on Discord’s face told her volumes.

“I don’t know actually. I could see it if I looked further in the future but I haven’t… I don’t think I can right now.” Discord spoke but not towards them. His eyes were focused into nothing over the heads of both alicorns. It was then that Cadance made her arrival into the conversation.

“I’ll think you’ll be fine.” She spoke gathering both her aunts’ and Discord’s attention.

“And pray tell what makes you think that dear niece.” Luna smirked seemingly knowing what she was about to say.

“I just know ponies. Fluttershy’s eyes still don’t radiate any true hate within them. Especially when she looks at you Discord.” Cadance softly stated.

“Discord. Are you awake?” Spike quickly prodded Discord’s arm. The stunt made him blink around trying to figure out what was going on and when his eyes focused on Spike he finally pulled himself out of his memories albeit not in the way he usually did.

“Yeah. Is it time to go through the door?” Discord looked at the door with the three butterflies on it.

“Yup. I think we should take stock of our abilities now that we’ve gotten farther. We’ve managed to make it to the seventh pony in our trip and we got a lot of powers to choose from. Though I think it’s weird how arbitrary the powers seem to be.” Spike peered at his own back. On it was Starlight’s star with two wisps, and Applejack apple, and one of Rarity’s diamonds. Each was sized appropriately to fit on his back without overlapping each other. Discord peered at his own back. On his he noticed a small pattern seem to appear similar to Spike’s back. On the left was Dash’s primary color lightning bolt, above that was one of Pinkie’s balloons, and in the center was Twilight’s double star. It formed a triangle while Spike’s was still forming a perimeter. It was hexagonal and while Twilight’s was the odd mark out in this it probably was important in a sense.

“Well we’ve learned what these marks do already and while a refresher would be useful let’s just wing it for now. Gotten through much worse scraps before.” Discord dismissively waved his claw and led them to the door.

Freya remained passive throughout the last few doors. She was blinking a lot more in color. Neither of the pair wanted to say anything and while Spike was hesitant to accept Discord’s explanations for ‘winging it’ as he said Spike mentally checked what his own power’s were doing. Only Starlight’s seemed to be the odd power out. His stamina and strength always seemed to grow whenever he used it. It would effect him passively and would steadily drain whenever he used it but it was the least taxing on him. The Apple mark increased his fire power and made him effectively an artillery piece. He only glanced at the word when they had face Sunset Shimmer across the mirror and they spent the night in that strange library. ‘Humans and their weapons… still it does explain why I feel so calm in these other worlds. Still Discord doesn’t seem perturbed in the slightest about these changes.’ Regardless of his thoughts he returned to the last mark… Rarity’s. Her shield were some of the most complex magic he had seen and that was a mouthful to him even though he lived with two of the strongest unicorns ever born in the entire world of Equus since Starswirl the Bearded.

Discord opened the door breaking Spike from his thoughts. The two stepped through as Freya came to her senses trying to find the two. The door closed confirming her suspicions of their whereabouts as she returned to the other doors she hid whenever they finished with one. She quickly found the Twilight one and went to assist the good clone before things could get out of hand once again.

Discord and Spike blinked as they looked around their surroundings noticing that the entire world around them was a sudden flux of machinery and nature. Robotic animals roamed around the area and the sky seemed to be full of propeller spheres with googly eyes. Spike rubbed his eyes and noticing the objects were still around him made him pinch his arm. The sudden pain made it painfully obvious that he wasn’t dreaming. Discord didn’t seem surprised though and merely kept an eye on Spike.

“Right searching for an element now. Heh heh… “ Spike concentrated on the surroundings around him and felt a strange pull come from one of the other sides of the area. In between them were loads of robots patrolling the area yet they ignored the pair and continued alongside their patrol routes.

“Maybe we’ll have an easier time here… Though I wonder if Fluttershy is handling living in a world such as this. Robotic animals don’t feel the same as real ones. Plus I don’t think The Stare works on non organic creatures.” Discord mused while a smile was plastered on his face. The smile didn’t reach his eyes but Spike said nothing about it. He felt the same when he couldn’t save Rarity and while he was worried about Twilight Freya had at least alleviated his fears for her by making sure the clone was safe as well. The world they left had emotionally drained him in ways he didn’t think possible and while Rarity had been a blow against his heart the incident with the Twilight clones had nearly shattered it to shards.

“I think I feel it further over there. I hope these robots don’t try anything against us. Do you think they follow those three laws that ponies came up with?” Spike curiously elbowed Discord’s leg. Hoping the conversation would distract him enough to get them through the area was a plus.

“Which one were those?” Discord didn’t even look at him. His eyes were wandering around but never actually looking for anything. Spike instantly recognized the same thing he went through back in that land of the dead. He wanted to see Fluttershy. Steeling himself, Spike proceeded to answer what he meant. Remembering what he could about Inner Actuator’s stories about robotics he once read, he recalled the rules that were detailed.

“A robot may not injure, or through inaction, allow a pony to come to harm. A robot must obey all ponies unless it conflicts with the first law. A robot must protect its existence unless it disobeys the first or second law. You know? Those laws that ponies keep crying about would be needed when we make our own robots.” Spike chuckled slightly only to see Discord still not paying much attention. Though for Spike, thankfully, he had answered back,

“You’re forgetting the Zeroth Law.” Discord spoke and glanced down at Spike.

“There’s a Zeroth Law? Where was that ever written?” Spike racked his brain for clues for this mythical law. He couldn’t remember everything about the book. He was smart thanks to all the books he was forced to read even though most of the knowledge would never be used. For the life of him he couldn’t recall anything from the story.

“Probably not in Equestria then. I’ve seen a version of the story written by another being that details that particular law. Basically it say that those laws can be ignored if humanity is a threat to itself or they are harming another human. It’s one that doesn’t get brought up because most robots aren’t that smart to think about those necessities. It’s also dangerous because semantics are a real pain in the ass sometimes. Creating intelligence is difficult and dangerous. Its why I don’t create any minions of my own. Chaos values free will to the extreme because a free mind will do everything it can to follow those impulses.” Discord finally looked at Spike. While he still looked sad his focus had finally broken through the haze. The explanation didn’t explain anything though. Spike knew Discord knew mind magic in a sense.

“What about your discording ability?” Spike innocently asked.

“Ah that. Discording doesn’t actually brainwash the recipient. It merely breaks them out to allow their impulses to shine through. Regardless of how they act I merely pushed the stigma they usually carry to allow them to try something new. While they may never say it when you become a bearer of an element they tend to encompass your entire life in some way. Honesty is the harshest of them because lying is almost impossible and sometimes you do need to lie in some situations. Kindness as well is a burden unless that being can remember that kindness doesn’t mean trying to make everyone happy at your own expense. Kindness must be on both sides; one to another and one to one’s self.” Discord explained while the two walked past the robotic animals undeterred.

Spike puzzled over the way Discord spoke about the elements. It felt like he knew more but before he could ask anymore he felt the same pull of an artifact moving slightly. It was close and the constant buzzing he heard was annoying.

“Do you hear that?” Spike pointed in front of him towards a wall. Discord quirked an eyebrow but decided to drag Spike behind cover. He didn’t question the action with the days they had been having and kept quiet as the buzzing got louder.

The wall exploded in a shower of debris as several rotating drills burst out of the tunnel and a large cylindrical boring machine broke through the dust. It immediately changed paths and slid perpendicular against the walls Nothing else came out of the hole but neither of the pair wanted to move quite yet. Then another figure came out. It was bipedal and seemed to be made entirely out of junk. Parts haphazardly stuck out of the figure while an old balding man followed after him. His eyes were strange as well fading back and forth between his natural color and the deep glow of blue that came from a harmony controlled being.

“Junk Man, report on situation!” The man screamed out as his hand massaged the bridge of his nose and between his eyes. He looked tired and irritated.

“Yes Doctor. Currently several of the robots that we have manufactured are keeping officials busy and causing as much anarchy as possible. We have your saucer prepared and a change of clothes. Freeze Man and Cloud Man have both taken control of their respective areas and all humans within the area have been evacuated. Burst Man is providing support on the city before heading for his area. The others await orders before attacking their respective areas.” Junk Man listed off all his creator’s concerns and led the way towards one of the other streets leaving Discord and Spike safe from discovery.

It took a few minutes before the pair could finally keep moving on. The fact that this place was a battlefield made things more hectic. Discord was smiling at the chaos but he knew he couldn’t stick around to enjoy the constant explosions and random shifts in the earth itself.

“Discord let’s go find the thing we need ok?” Spike grabbed Discord’s talons and pulled him out of his delusions. He quietly followed the drake as the robots around them kept milling around unaware of the two flesh beings before them.

Discord didn’t seem willing to respond but kept going for the sake of freedom. They both knew what was on his mind and Spike had gone through it a while back. Pushing the confusion away for now Discord saw immediately where Spike was leading them. In the distance was a large junkyard and what looked to be a processing building. The smoke stacks were releasing a lot of smoke into the air signifying that they were melting or burning things within.

“They really need Pegasi around here don’t they? I haven’t seen this much smoke since the Gauntlet of Fire happened,” Spike looked down on the heavy smoke covering the sky but not for reasons of nature. “ The dragons of this world must be real jerks or something huh?” Spike innocently pointed out.

“Snrk… Spike this world doesn’t have dragons in it.” Discord’s answer rang out in Spike’s mind confusing him.

“Then why in Tartarus are they burning things here. There are better ways to get rid of garbage here. Heck I know you disintegrate it into ash for Fluttershy to use in her flower garden.” Spike scowled slightly at the smoke stacks.

“Industrial revolution Spike. The beings here wanted progress and that comes at a price. Nothing too drastic but it’s there. Besides this place is like the Everfree in a sense. Wild weather and that thing. Every edge is needed when the weather wants to kill you. Survival of the fittest in a sense and if you’re not running you’re dying.” Discord nonchalantly shrugged his arms as he entered the junkyard ahead of Spike. Spike looked around at all the robots and shrugged as well. He couldn’t actually see a problem though dragon sensibilities may have clouded his judgment. He could survive in any world merely because he could survive a lot of punishment with his scales.

Examining his surroundings, Spike noticed a lot of robots being scrapped within and Discord seemingly loss in a pensive stare. The robots were all bipedal like Junk Man had been but lacked any color and looked more like a mass produced model with broken armor and mangled limbs attached. Spike cautiously poked a few and sighed in relief when none of them moved.

“Looks like we know what robots are thought of in this world, huh?” Discord masked his scowl though the tone betrayed the smile he wore. Spike nodded absentmindedly and continued on his way towards the feeling he held for the next artifact. Every couple of moments it would jerk away from his reach and move slightly to the left and slightly to the right. That feeling was almost like the moment they were searching for Hector LeMans. The artifact was only moving slightly at least and not causing him unneeded frustration like the hat. The two stopped just in front of a large pile of mechanical parts.

“I think it’s under this stuff… Any ideas?” Spike scratched his head uncertain of how to go about the problem. The pile was filled with serrated pieces of metal and other assorted machinery.

“Let me try this…” Discord held his talon in front of him and a aura of plaid magic appeared from it. The machinery also took the same aura and it began lifting into the air. The mark on his back drained fast leaving him only a short amount of time to get it out of the way. Luckily it was enough as the mark ran out of color leaving a very exhausted draconequus to look over his handiwork. While certain laws of magic were in place Discord’s telekinetic abilities were far beyond normal and well beyond Twilight levels, yet her mark was made for telekinetic forces beyond belief.

Beneath the pile of scrap metals and dangling wires was a small pack. Spike was still wearing his own pack but this seemed to be important. Reluctantly he took it off and placed the pack on his back. Even more reluctantly Discord allowed the old pack to be placed on his own back. It was easily resized to not put a strain on his back and was lighter than he thought it should be. All the supplies they had brought with them were very low. Realization took over when he remembered that they hadn’t restocked since the trip through Rarity’s door.

“We’re gonna need to fix this later then.” Discord hummed to himself while Spike fitted the pack to fit comfortably on his back. It didn’t seem to cause any problems nor did it suddenly force power through him. Unlike the shield and the gauntlet this seemed to be a passive power and one he couldn’t use at the moment.

“Well we have the artifact. Let’s get out of here. Seven artifacts down and only seven more… to go…” Spike slowly trailed off as he saw something crawling out several piles of junk. They were bipedal and stood nearly as tall as the robot they saw earlier, Junk Man. In fact six of them were standing around. While they looked utterly trashed and incapable of movement they stood there glaring at the two with an unflinching gaze. The three on the left consisted of an orange bipedal robot with scissors on its head, a red bipedal robot with a boomerang on its forehead, and a large blue bipedal robot that was shaped like a rook and seemed heavier than the others. On the right were three more which consisted of a yellow bipedal robot shaped like a figure from a Daring Do book, a purple biped on treads that looked like a walking arsenal, and a green quadruped with two more arms shaped just like Tirek.

While the two had enough experience and probably enough lightning to deal with the robots around them their appearance was still formidable and intimidating. Whatever had constituted as skin had melted off and the gashes on their mechanical faces revealed just how much machinery went into their creation. Several limbs seemed to be nonfunctional or in disservice but the steady hum seemed to imply that their weapons were still working. That wasn’t what had gotten their attention though. It was the small voice that was trying to reach them.

“Um… excuse me…” The voice was subtle and seemed to be the only sound left once the machines came to life.

The two looked at the voice and Discord nearly recoiled at the sight. It was the same situation with Twilight but less disturbing if that made any sense which was fine for Discord in hindsight.A small battered pegasus with flayed yellow fur and broken wings stood between the orange bot and the green bot. It was made out of metal with let Spike at least blink and think rationally. Rational thought also wanted him to scream like a lady but shock strangled that for stunned silence instead. The eyes that should have been a deep blue were faded into a dull white with a red point where the iris would be. The inner working of her jaw were on full display for the two to see.

“Do you think you could give that back? My friends would be or so grateful to have it back. If you don’t mind. I wouldn’t want to inconvenience either of you for that sort of matter…” While the voice seemed to be soft and demure they noticed how demanding it actually was. There wasn’t really room to mince words and the implied threat by her friends was all too clear.

“W-Who are you?” Spike was the first to find his voice.

“I’m Flutter…” The mare robot muttered out.

“What was that?” Spike asked again feeling a sense of deja vu.

“I’m Flu…” Another broken gasp came out before the robot shuddered and squeaked in fear over the pair hiding behind what was left of her mane which was nothing almost. The difference was clear though. The eye that normally hid behind Fluttershy’s mane was looking at the pair. Focusing intently on their very beings.